Gaming consoles are moving that way anyways, mobile devices are there already (check your cell phone contract)
In some cases you don't even have to explicitly limit resale. I don't know how iPhone and Android apps work, but here's how J2ME apps work when purchased from, say, the AT&T Mall.
You browse the software via your phone then make your purchase. Your phone then downloads a JAD file which includes the download link for the application's JAR as well as a digital certificate.
The digital certificate has a finite life (some apps I've downloaded expire in two years) which means your phone won't accept it after expiration without some shenanigans, and the downloaded forced at the phone means you don't have an easy way to save it.
To get around the download part, I set my Firefox proxy to use the AT&T WAP proxy, set my user agent to mimic the supported phone (this is important as the AT&T Mall is programmed to reject unsupported and in some cases unlocked phones) then go on-line using my phone. I capture the JAD and JAR files and store them on my computer.
To get around the certificate issue, I could try to re-sign the application, which is not likely. Or I can set the phone's time back to a period during which the cert is valid. I can also make it part of the phone's customization pack and have it install during initial start up.
But for the average user, all of this means you buy it and you can never give it away, sell it, or restore it to your phone if something happens.
